Tickets for the seventh annual Rancho Mirage Writers Festival go on sale Thursday and, if history truly is a portender of the future, they may not be on sale long.

Festival Founder Jamie Kabler said tickets have sold out in their first day of availability for each of the past five years.

The acclaimed writers festival, which typically draws about 1,000 people from around the continent, will again be a weekdays-only event, running Wednesday, Jan. 30-Friday, Feb. 1 at the Rancho Mirage Public Library. Tickets go on sale at 8 a.m. at rmwritersfest.org.

The 2019 event will emphasize the 75th anniversary of D-Day, marking the beginning of the end of the European theater of World War II, Kabler said. English military historian Sir Antony Beevor and American military historian Rick Atkinson are scheduled to speak. Kabler said the theme was suggested by author and festival regular Susan Eisenhower, whose grandfather, former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, was commander-in-chief of allied forces in Europe during World War II.

Some 35 authors are committed to speak so far, including along with nonfiction authors and journalists Candice Millard and Lynne Olson; mystery writers Nelson DeMille and Dennis Lehane; Craig Johnson, creator of the TV series, “Longmire,” and Ronen Bergman, who is scheduled to come from Israel to discuss his new book on the Israeli Secret service, the Mossad. Republican political advisor Karl Rove will return after making a positive impression at the most recent writer’s festival in January.

Other writers who have become festival regulars include humorist Dave Barry, New York Times columnist Bret Stephens and actress Lucie Arnaz. Past celebrity authors have included Robert Wagner and Suzanne Somers.

The festival, supported largely by philanthropic angels contributing $5,000 or more, will feature up to 75 author talks, Q&As and panel discussions. General admission ticket prices will remain $500 per “reader.” That price includes box lunches, valet parking, breakfast snacks, bottled water and a closing day luncheon.